"Houston, We Definitely Have a Problem"

Whitney Houston died last weekend. Found submerged in her hotel room bathtub; she was not able to be revived and was pronounced DOA. Of course they performed an autopsy and the results of that autopsy along with toxicology results will be forthcoming in a week or two. However, it doesn’t take Thomas Noguichi (former famous chief coroner of LA) to pretty much tell us what happened. Addicted to prescription pain killers, sleep medicines and God knows what else she simply gave out or overdosed. The old saying “it’s not the years, it’s the mileage is so often true. If that saying is true Houston had a ton of mileage on her at age 48. It is not my intent here to criticize Whitney Houston a woman whose talent for singing (her National Anthem at Super Bowl XXI is regarded as the best one ever) was sadly matched by her ability at self-abuse. I write today to discuss the drug addicted America we have become.

Elvis, Judy Garland, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Michael Jackson, River Phoenix, Kirk Cobain, Heath Ledger…how many names do you need me to list of celebrities that killed themselves either all at once (Jimi Hendrix) or slowly over time (Elvis Presley). Whether they did it all at once or slowly the fact is they killed themselves. How many more celebrities have come close, Mackenzie Phillips, Robert Downey Jr., Charlie Sheen and countless others that but for the Grace of God would have joined their brethren in the drug wing of Purgatory. Let’s not forget those currently working on an early demise like Lindsay Lohan, Brittany Spears, and Demi Moore. Lord knows they've made a valiant efforts to achieve the early departure (from this world) they seem determined to get.

I haven’t even begun to list the sports stars, the art world, fashion world, literary world and political arena. For some, food was the addiction (John Candy), for others the hard stuff like heroin (Judy Garland) and for others the inability to get off drugs led them to desperate acts like Kurt Cobain or Bryn Hartman killing her celebrity husband Phil in a drugged state. IN the last few years the abuse has really gone the way of prescription drugs. Principally they use downers in the form of “sleeping medication”, or prescription drugs associated with trying to relax. Often it’s the bad drug interactions like in the case of Elvis (42 different drugs in his system at the time of death) or Heath Ledger (many different drugs in his system combined with alcohol). Hard stuff, slow stuff, street stuff, or prescription stuff it’s all lethal whether in the long term, or by way of the single overdose.

Now, imagine this, for every celebrity with this problem how many more Americans have the same kind of drug issues? Millions by most accounts. We are the most drug addicted major country in the world. Close to 62% of all the prescribed drug usage in the world is right here in the US. There is a drug store on almost every street corner in America and there seems to be no end to the number of doctors ready to write out fill orders at the drop of a hat (especially if you have lots of money). I once bet my ex that I could go into any doctor’s office and get the doctor to write out a prescription for amoxicillin ((antibiotics for a child) without even bringing in a kid with me. Just show them my wallet and have a good story. She wouldn’t let me try but I felt certain I could do it.

My final point is this: Doctors have to be held accountable for writing prescriptions unnecessarily. The Doctor’s for hire have to go to jail and lose licenses and any drug addict that uses up tax payer money getting medical help for overdoses (they just show up at the hospital and collapse on the floor) must be required to pay the money back or go to jail and clean up. I know, I know, there are anomalies like Keith Richard but believe me he is one in a million, and probably a zombie at that.

Look, everyone can do what they want but it is almost certain that if you start down that alcohol, cigarette, illegal or prescription drug highway it’s going to be a short road, an ugly road and you are not going to like what happens to you one bit. We have to get young people to understand that. Don't even even start down that hiway.

As George Orwell said so well, “at age 50, everyone has the face they deserve”. In the case of Whitney Houston it was age 48 but for her, nonetheless, still true.